Wire-drawing apparatus.



No. 001,070. -PAT ENTED JUNE 10, 1008. G. A. HOYT.

WIRE DRAWING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED 00110. 1007.

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No. 891,070. PA'ITEIIT'ED JUNE 16, 1908. G. A. HOYT. WIRE DRAWINGAPPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.10. 1907,. I

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGE A. novr,

or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A

OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN STEEL &WIRE COMPANY,

CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

WIRE-DRAWING APPARATUS. "=1 e Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 16, 1908.

Application filed October 10, 1907. Serial No. 396,792.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. How, of Cleveland, Cuyahoga county, Ohio,have in vented a new and useful Improvement in ire-Drawing Apparatus, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which z- Figure 1 is a plan view of wire drawingapparatus embodying my invention Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line IIITIT of Fig. 1 Fig. 4 is' adetail sectional view of one of the drawing blocks, and the drivingmeans therefor; and Fig. 5 is an inverted plan view of oneof the drawingblock's.

My invention has relation to wire drawing apparatus and is designed toprovide mech anism of this character in which the drawing block willautomatically stop as soon as the last end of the wire passes throughthe die or when the wire breaks between the block and die, or when thetension on the wire is released; and in which the block, when oncestopped, will not start again except by the manual operation, of theoperator.

The precise nature of my invention will be best understood by referenceto the accompanying drawing in which I have shown the invention, andwhich will now be described, it being premised, however, that variouschanges may be made therein. by those skilled in the art, withoutdeparting from my invention as defined in the appended claims.

In these drawings, the numeral 2 designates the drawing bench and 3 twoof the drawing blocks.

4 is the usual longitudinally arranged driving shaft 'carrying thebeveled gear wheels 5 which mesh with similar gear wheels on thevertical shafts 7. Each of the shafts 7 is formed with a hollow portionat its upper end upon which the drawing block is loosely mounted torotate on the fixed base ring 8. orking in the hollow upper portion ofthe shaft or spindle 7, is a second shaft or spindle 9, which is securedin the shafts 7 by the key 10, the shaft or spindle 7 being slotted asshown at 11 to receive said key. The inner shaft or spindle 9 carries atits upper portion a transversely extending clutch key 12, which isdesigned to be raised into contact with a groove 13 in the under side ofthe drawing block, the outer shaft or spindle being slotted as indicatedat 1 1 to permit of a limited vertical movement of the inner shaft orspindle in the outer one.

15 is a sleeve which is slidably mounted on the shaft or spindle 7 andthrough which the key 10 passes.

16 is a treadle lever which is fulcrumed at 17 and which has a forkedportion 16 which is secured to the sleeve 15.

18 is a counterweight adjustably mounted on the rear arm of the lever.

20 indicates the usual wire drawing dies.

The operation is as follows :To start the drawing block, the operatortakes hold of the upwardly extending handle portion 16 of the treadlelever 16, and raises the same thereby moving the sleeve 15 upwardly onthe shaft or spindle 7 and raising the inner shaft or spindle 9 to causethe clutch key 12 to enga e with the drawing block. As soon as the clutch key becomes engaged with the drawing block, it willbe held in suchengagement by the tension of the wire on the block. When, however, thelast end of the wire passes through the die, or should the wire breakbetween the block and. the drawing die, or if the tension on the wire isreleased for any cause, the weight of the spindle 19 and its attachedparts will immediately act to pull down the spindle 19 to with draw theclutch key 17 from its engagement with the drawing block. Thecounterweight 18 partially counterbalances the weight of the spindle andits attached parts and prevents shock when the spindle drops. The blockwill then stop and will not start again until the operator takes hold ofthe treadle lever with his hand and lifts the same. This does away withthe danger of the o crating treadle being kicked off, causing the lockto start again while the operator is stripping it or before he is readyto start. If the operator sto s the block for any reason, he is notoblige to use as great an effort when pressing on the operating treadlewith his foot in order to raise the block with the wire therea hard anddurable steel and the groove or recess 13 on the under side of thedrawing block can be faced with hardened steel strips 13. This preventsthe constant chipping such as occurs on the usual cast iron clutch.Inasmuch as the drawing block sits closely on its base ring 8 there isno chance of the wire getting caught below the block, or on the spindlebetween the frame and the block and winding itself up.

I claim:

1. In wire drawing mechanism, a drawing block, and a driving membertherefor, said block and member having portions which are held infrictional drivin contact with each other by the tensional action of thewire on the block, said member being free to drop by gravity out ofdriving engagement with the block when such tensional action ceases;substantially as described.

2. In wire drawing mechanism, a drawing block, a driving shaft therefor,and a driving member having a driving engagement with the driving shaft,and forming the only connection between said shaft and the block, saidmember and block having cooperating portions held in frictional contactby the tensional action of the wire on the block, and said member beingfree to drop by gravity out of driving engagement with the block whensuch tensional action ceases; substantially as described.

3. In wire drawing apparatus a drawing block, a hollow driving spindletherefor, a second spindle vertically movable within the hollow spindleand having a clutch device adapted to en age a seat in the underside ofthe drawing block when raised into engagement therewith, said spindleshaving a driv ing connection with each other and to be held in suchengagement solely by the tension of the wire on the block; substantiallyas described.

4. In wire drawin a It 17 paratus a drawing block, a driving sha erefor,a weighte clutch spindle vertically movable in the driving shaft andhaving a clutch key, and means for actuating said spindle to bring theclutch key into engagement with the drawing block, said block having aportion for frictional contact with said key, said spindle beingarranged to retract the clutch spindle and key from the block, bygravity when the tension on the drawing block is relieved; substantiallyas described.

5. In wire drawing apparatus a drawing block having a recess in itsunder side, a base ring on which said block rotates, and a weighted,vertically movable clutch device adapted to be raised into engagementwith said recess and to be held in engagement with a wall of'said recessby the tension on the drawing block, and unsupported from below topermit it to drop by gravity to automatica ly disengage itself from theblock when the tension is relieved; substantially as described.

6. In wire drawing apparatus, a drawing block having a recess in itsunder side, and a vertically movable driving member having a clutchportion ada ted to engage and disen gage said recess an to be held inengagement therewith solely by the ressure of the drawing block upon itsclutc portion, said driving member being unsupported from below topermit it to fal by gravity and disengage its clutch portion when thedrawing tension GEORGE A. HOYT.

Witnesses:

ALBERT W. Hrrz, JAs. G. BREE.

